This Memorial Day, please
keep veterans in your thoughts, and especially in your prayers. Each year, on the Sunday night before Memorial
Day, PBS airs a beautiful, Washington DC music special that is dedicated to all veterans. Rain
or shine!

The audience at the annual Washington DC music event is mostly just appreciative, proud Americans.

Check your local television listings
for this music special. (I believe it may be a tear-jerker for some patriotic types, non-veteran and veteran a-like... )

Now, a person can proudly call himself or
herself an American Patriot without fear of being insulted. Not too long ago, American-Leftists had most
Americans believing that America was the real evil in the world. Sadly, their cries of "America is
Evil" are still often heard in Congress and the United States Senate.

"I think that there is no greater gift than for a manto be
willing to risk his life for the freedom of strangers."

Op-Ed Contributor: Local Heroes

December 20, 2004By ANDREW BORENE

Minneapolis - IF the Pentagon hopes to start bringing American troops home
from Iraq while also increasing security there, it will have to find a way to do more with less. One approach could be expanding
the Marine Corps combined-action program, an initiative that was successful in Vietnam and has shown early promise in Iraq.

The concept behind the program is that if American and foreign troops operate
together, each will gain knowledge from the other as to the best way to counter an insurgency. In Vietnam, platoons were created
that combined marines and Vietnamese militia members. The Americans were handpicked, chosen because they had shown particular
respect for the local culture. They were expected to live in the villages they were assigned to defend, striving to "work
themselves out of a job" by training their Vietnamese counterparts in police work and security operations.

The most striking success of the program was a rapid increase in actionable
intelligence. Living in Vietnamese hamlets for months, the marines got a chance to get to know the locals, who in general
had kept a careful neutrality in the war. This helped to humanize the American presence and reduced the passive support many
civilians had been giving to Vietcong guerrillas. For many, their respect for (or fear of) the communist guerrillas waned,
and they broke their silence about intelligence leads.

In the long run, it was one of the few efforts that managed to win some "hearts
and minds" in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the top brass lost interest in the program in the early 1970's and, well, the rest is
history.

Last year, under the leadership of Gen. James Mattis, members of the First
Marine Division in western Iraq began adapting the program to aid poorly trained Iraqi National Guard and police forces. Although
it is too soon to declare success, reports from the military and the news media suggest that Iraqis in the combined-action
program perform better in combat, have higher morale and are considerably more reliable than their regular Iraqi military
counterparts.

Expanding the program would be best accomplished by teaming coalition troops
with Iraqi security troops, or even paramilitary groups as in Vietnam, and placing them in cities along the main supply routes.
This would significantly bolster the coalition's ability to gauge popular sentiment and gather intelligence leads on the pursuit
of enemy leaders. It would also reduce the high profile of the coalition forces.

While the situations in Vietnam and Iraq are not identical, when it comes
to battling insurgents it is always vital to erase their advantages in popular support and local knowledge. A few good marines
learned how to do that during Vietnam; perhaps trying it again in Iraq can bring about a different ending.

Andrew Borene, a law student at the University of Minnesota, was a first lieutenant
with the Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. He is an adviser to Operation Truth, a veterans' advocacy group.

JACK CUNNINGHAM

For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking
Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this
minor event into some modern day My Lai massacre.

I heard some Arabs are asking for an apology. I humbly offer mine here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was
in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).

I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11.

I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Arabs.

I am sorry that Arabs have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships. I am sorry that their leaders
squander their wealth.

I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools.

I am sorry that Yassir Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and hijacked the Palestinian "cause."

I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to
those same Palestinians.

I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while
the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA.

I am sorry that our own left wing elite and our media can't understand any of this.

I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the "food for oil" money so they could
get rich while the common folk suffered.

I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death.

I am sorry that those same bombers are seeking 72 virgins. I can't seem to find one here on Earth.

I am sorry that the homicide bombers think babies are a legitimate target.

I am sorry that our troops died to free more Arabs.

I am sorry they show so much restraint when their brothers in arms are killed. I am sorry that Muslim extremists
have killed more Arabs than any other group.

I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist
state.

I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen "Daisy Cutters" on Fallujah. (Note: a "Daisy Cutter" is a 10,000
lb bomb, used to clear helicopter landing zones)

I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site".

I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely
damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites.

I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, etc.

I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a medium sized village in Africa.

I am sorry the French are french?

America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those responsible because that is what we do.
We hang out our dirty laundry for all the world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much.
We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.

Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost
hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured
we were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated? Our
compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating
Fallujans.

If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait. You have a better chance
of finding those 72 virgins.